Wednesday, August 22, 2012

apparently no sometimes doesn't mean no anymore

I dislike politics and news, because it upsets me and I feel there's nothing I can do about it. I dislike writing about it here because a) I'm not terribly articulate; I just get kind of outraged; b) everyone and their mom already does on Real Blogs; and c) sometimes current events seem too temporal for something like a blog. And really, d) no one cares what I think or say.

But this Todd Akin hullabaloo has gotten everyone in a twist, rightly so, and I've been stewing about it, and reading lots of great articles about it. So I figure just for the sake of posterity and keeping a record and trying to sort out my rage-y thoughts. Happily, others have pretty much nailed the things I want to say.

More ACTUAL SCIENCE about the topic of female reproduction (I really don't understand how a major political party continues to speak about matters of health while being totally, completely, willingly IGNORANT about actual FACTS).

"It is not only normal to know multiple sexual assault survivors, it is
normal in our culture for women to be afraid of rape and on the
defensive around men for gigantic portions of their lives. And so, even
for women who have never and will never be raped, it is a fear-inducing,
triggering reminder that our safety is never fully in our own hands."

"“The biological facts are perhaps inconvenient, but whether the egg
meets the sperm is a matter of luck or prevention,” says Dr. Paul
Blumenthal, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology who directs the
Stanford Program for International Reproductive Education and Services.
“If wishing that ‘I won’t get pregnant right now’ made it so, we
wouldn’t need contraceptives.”

When you wish upon a rape."

"Yet Todd Akin is right. He shouldn’t have to get out of the United
States Senate race in Missouri simply for saying what he believes. He
reflects a severe stance on abortion that many in his party embrace,
including the new vice presidential candidate.

“I talk about one word, one sentence, one day out of place, and, all of a
sudden, the entire establishment turns on you,” Representative Akin
complained to the conservative radio talk-show host Dana Loesch on
Tuesday as he spurned pleas from Mitt Romney and other G.O.P. big shots
to abort his bid. He continued: “They just ran for cover at the first
sign of any gunfire, and I think we need to rush to the gunfire.”

He’s right again. Other Republicans are trying to cover up their true
identity to get elected. Even as party leaders attempted to lock the
crazy uncle in the attic in Missouri, they were doing their own crazy
thing down in Tampa, Fla., by reiterating language in their platform
calling for a no-exceptions Constitutional amendment outlawing abortion,
even in cases of rape, incest and threat to the life of the mother."

"As the Akin story unfolded, however, it became apparent that he does
know medical facts. He's just using words to try to change them.
"Legitimate" rape doesn't mean anything except that Todd Akin wants to
decide for himself if you have the right to your own body, or if it's
completely fine that someone raped you. ...Make no mistake: This isn't about Todd Akin, or Paul Ryan,
"misspeaking." This is about attempting to change the language so that
he controls the dialogue and we are disenfranchised. We, all of us,
women of all parties and religious thoughts and ways of speaking, our
children, and the men who love us."

(What I wrote on facebook:) The only problem with this is
the a man like would never and will never try to imagine the horrors of
something like rape. He doesn't care. He must have some female
relatives that he cares about, but he wouldn't take a few minutes to
think

about it from their perspective, or
how he would want to protect them from a terrible experience like that,
or how he would want them to have freedom and control OVER THEIR OWN
BODIES. And by "he" I don't just mean this clown--I mean all the
conservative men that have been trying to legislate, define, restrict,
CONTROL what women do with their bodies (or have done to them by men).
This is only a glimpse into the reality of the conservative mindset
that's been at work for the past two years. Here's a list of current
reproductive laws: http://

"And, as his comments about “legitimate rape” demonstrate, Todd Akin has abandoned morality.Here’s
how this works: Moralism seeks to blame all suffering on moral failure.
If you are suffering, then you must have done something to deserve such suffering."

And:

"I also want to thank him for revealing the contempt and mistrust that
lies at the heart of so much anti-choice rhetoric. The contempt for
women who have sex for pleasure and accidentally get pregnant. The
mistrust of women that feeds the belief that we lie about being raped so
we can get abortions, and the mistrust of women that justifies the idea
that we don’t know when we’ve been raped and that politicians get to
decide that for us.I want to thank him for demonstrating the complete disregard for
women that is necessary for a person to want to ban abortion. Notice
that in his response, he mentioned the hypothetical rapist, and the
“child,” but he didn’t mention the woman. The woman who has been raped
and is now pregnant and will now be forced to give birth to her rapist’s
baby because the government says so. Because what she wants isn’t
relevant in this situation.

I want to thank Mr. Akin for highlighting the logical inconsistency of being anti-choice and anti-Affordable
Care Act. You’ll rail all day long about how Obamacare infringes on the
American citizen’s personal freedom to make healthcare decisions, but
you’re happy to infringe on an American woman’s personal freedom to make
reproductive healthcare decisions? How exactly do you hold both those
ideas in your head without your head exploding?"

There are Republican women who are just as disgusted as Democrat women:

"If you and your pals are so concerned with jobs and the economy then
how come there have been over 1100 pieces of anti-women legislation
brought up across the country in 2011 and over 900 pieces so far this
year and NOT ONE SINGLE TIME has a JOB bill been voted on in the U.S.
House! How many times has a vote against women and our right to autonomy
been voted on? Oh and by the way didn’t the U.S. House also vote 33
TIMES to repeal the Affordable Care Act?

You and your friends have now attacked every single group of people
in this country except the religious right. Do you seriously think that
the Republicans are going to be able to win in this country when you
marginalize and alienate voters who don’t think like you?"

Unfortunately, there are also Republican women who not only side with Akin, but believe the garbage he spouts also. I find this depressing and quite frankly gross. It's probably cliche to say that women are selling each other out, but truly, I don't understand how any woman could in good conscience support ideas (let alone laws! How about what Jan Brewer's Arizona is doing?! Good lord!) that hurt women and take away the freedom that generations of women before us have fought so very hard for!

UGH.

As always, the Hairpin has fantastic comments:

"Little known medical fact: in the case of "legitmate rape" (ie all the
correct rape paperwork is filed, in triplicate) a tiny Gandalf appears
in the birth canal and waves his tiny wand and yells "YOU SHALL NOT
PAAAASSS" to the sperm or "Balrog" in this equation."

Finally, let's end with some more laughter so we stop the angry crying: